Cathie from Canada

"Do not go gentle into that good night.
Blog, blog against the dying of the light"

Friday, March 14, 2008

Travel at your own risk

Harper seems to be quite happy to let a Canadian woman rot in a Mexican jail because if Canada tried to help her we might be accused of "meddling" -- oooh, couldn't have that!Nice to find out the priorities of our prime minister, isn't it? Protecting Canadians appears to rank fairly low, certainly lower than Harper's ego.Instead, it is our former prime minister, Paul Martin, who has been meeting with Mexican officials to try to help this poor woman. That's Paul Martin for you.And now we hear about an under-the-radar Conservative caucus revolt: Tory MPs support Liberal motion challenging government policy on death penalty. Apparently the motion has no legal authority, so our prime minister can continue to abandon Canadians to foreign jails. But 96 Conservative MPs sent a pretty strong message by voting against Harper and Stockwell Day on their meanspirited and shortsighted policy:

"It's a disturbing trend to abandon Canadians who are in trouble abroad," said [NDP MP Pat] Martin. "It's as if they're saying 'it's your bed, you made it, you sleep in it'. That seems to be the tone that's being struck by this administration."